


Like I've Never Seen the Sky Before

by Aragarna



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2468732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Episode tag to Quantico Closure. Peter and Elizabeth sit down and finally share their feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like I've Never Seen the Sky Before

**Author's Note:**

> This is the conversation between Peter and Elizabeth we had a glimpse of at the end of the episode. I really wished we'd had more of that scene because I felt like there was a lot more to that episode than a quick impression could let on. Also, because I just love them and needed some fluffy cuddles. Title is from the song _Come What May_ , from the Mouling Rouge soundtrack, just because I can be that helpless romantic, especially when it comes to Peter and El.
> 
> A big huge thank you to my wonderful beta [](http://anodyneer.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://anodyneer.livejournal.com/)**anodyneer** for her promptness :)  
> 

**Like I've Never Seen the Sky Before**

  
Peter takes two beers from the fridge and, taking Elizabeth by the hand, he leads her to the sofa, where they sit side by side.

After the hazardous end of the operation and the successful recovery of the microchip – at least there is that – everyone headed back to the office. Peter took Elizabeth’s statement – that is going to be a hell of a report to write – but she seemed to be quite in a hurry to get out of there, looking vaguely ashamed of her behavior. They need to have a conversation about what exactly happened at this hotel and in the past two days, but Peter thought the office was barely the right place to do so. There is a lot to process and he needs to find the right words. So he let his wife go home and in the meantime, he led the interrogations and wrapped the case, before going home to her.

 “Hon, I think we need to talk,” he says softly as he opens a bottle and hands it to El before opening his own.

El bites her lips and flushes slightly. “I’m sorry. I’ve been a total idiot,” she says in a small voice.

That’s one way to put it, but if she is an idiot, she is an absolutely adorable one. Peter draws Elizabeth close and she cuddles under his arm.

“Hon, you can’t just come and crash a case like that,” he says. “It’s dangerous. You could have been hurt,” he adds in a low voice. “We’re lucky it turned out all right for everyone.”

El nods. “It was scarier than I expected.”

“You’re telling me! You scared the hell out of me showing up like this. And that thug pointing the gun at you…”

“Peter, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think…”

Peter can’t help a light chuckle. “You didn’t think that one through too much...”

Elizabeth makes a face and lightly hits Peter in the chest with her fist, which only makes Peter laugh more openly.

“You’re not angry at me, then?” Elizabeth asks, shooting her most irresistible look at Peter.

He kisses her on the forehead. “Even if I tried, I couldn’t be angry at you. Especially when you look at me that way…”

Peter takes a sip of his beer and sets it on the table in front of him. There is a growing knot in his stomach. He knows he has to talk about it, he owes it to El. And he knows, deep down, that her behavior in the past two days was just the result of his, and it will probably help them both if he shares it with her. But he just doesn’t know how to start. He swallows back the lump in his throat and takes a deep breath.

“It’s about Agent Siegel,” he says finally. “I should have talked to you about this a long time ago, but... I can’t stop thinking about him. I can’t shake the feeling  that if I hadn’t become ASAC he’d still be alive…”

Feeling his voice waver, Peter pauses.

“Oh, Honey,” Elizabeth says, looking up at him with her deep blue eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want this to weigh on you. We’ve been through so much lately, you and me. I saw that David’s death worried you, and I… I just wanted to protect you from it.”

Elizabeth tilts her head and gives him a sad smile, as she brushes his cheek with her thumb, making him look at her.

“David Siegel’s death isn’t you fault, Hon,” she says softly, her gaze locked in his.

Peter lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m still the one who brought him to New York. If it wasn’t for me, he’d still be alive and happy in Chicago…”

Elizabeth leans against him and rests her head against his shoulder. Peter wraps an arm around her.

“I’ve been ASAC for less than two months… He was my responsibility... And I - ”

Peter stops. He feels the tears rising at the corners of his eyes. He bites his lips to fight them back, but the pain is too acute, the weight too heavy. The tears he’s been holding back for too long finally flow and Peter lets go. He squeezes Elizabeth in his arms and buries his face in her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Hon,” Elizabeth whispers as she gently strokes up and down his back, soothing the spasms that shakes him until they stop and he pulls away.

He swipes the tears away with the back of his sleeve.

“Jill has lost an agent too, some years ago. And I felt like I could share it with her. It helped. And it’s not that I didn’t want to talk to you about her, or about the case. It was more an easy way not to talk about work at all, and the investigation of David’s murder. We found his badge yesterday. We thought we had a lead, but it was a dead end. We’re not getting anywhere…”

“You’ll find his killer, Peter. Have faith. Like you say, criminals always slip.”

Peter nods. He knows on a certain level, she’s right. They will eventually catch David’s murderer. They have to. And he knows he won’t find peace until he slams the cuffs on whoever did this. They will keep looking, no matter how long it takes. They owe it to David Siegel, who was such a brilliant agent.

Peter and Elizabeth remain silent for a while, cuddled against each other.

“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about all this, El,” he finally says. “Jill told me I shouldn’t be afraid of talking to you.”

“Wise woman,” Elizabeth retorts with a hint of coldness.

Peter delicately cups her chin in his fingers and makes her look at him.

“I love you, Hon, you know that,” he says, stressing each word.

“I know,” Elizabeth admits. “I know I’m silly. I keep telling myself I have no reason to feel jealous, but I know how important your job at the FBI is to you and you can share it with her…”

Peter can see there is something still bothering El. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

Elizabeth looks up at him. She hesitates an instant and finally blurts the question that had bothered her so much in the past couple days. “Do you still have feelings for her?”

Peter shakes his head vigorously. “Jill? No, not at all.”

Against his expectations, that doesn’t seem to reassure El.

“But did you love her?”

Peter isn’t sure where this conversation is going.  “Yes, I did love her. But Hon, there’s nothing between Jill and me.”

“So you stopped loving her,” El says in a small voice.

And suddenly it all becomes clear to Peter. He lets out a light chuckle, which he quickly swallows back at the sight of the black look El shoots him.

“Oh, Hon, I would _never_ stop loving you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Peter has to think about this for a moment. It is hard to put down feelings into words. That’s just something he knows, deep in his heart, he simply cannot stop loving his wife. No matter how silly she might be to doubt it, he needs to find the right way to reassure her, because that’s what she needs right now.

He takes her in his arms and presses her against his chest. Her face is just a few inches from his, and he dives into the ocean of her gaze.

“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. You are like a part of me, and I wouldn’t be able to live without you. It’s something I know, I feel in my heart. Just like you feel it too, am I right?”

She smiles, and bending closer, she puts a delicate kiss on his lips. She doesn’t say anything but he can read it in the sparks in her eyes. _I love you, Hon_.

 _I love you too,_ he sends back.

 

FIN.

 

 


End file.
